New Year's Sparkling Wine Cocktails

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
Celebrate the new year with any one of these incredible sparkling wine cocktails. Mixologist John Coltharp offers up "Cork Country Bubbles" with a herbal, woody Jameson 12-year Irish whiskey, while actress Ali Larter mixes up champagne with a twist. We've also got options for Champagne mojitos, sparkling pomegranate punch, a "Citrus 75" with sweet Italian lemon liqueur and more.
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Champagne with a Twist

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Actress and party-giver Ali Larter makes her sparkling cocktails with a lemon twist for a dash of bitter. It's a quick and easy recipe that's perfect for any party.

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Grape Sparklers

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In this delightfully fizzy cocktail, David Page showcases the fruitiness of just-pressed grape juice, blending it with dry sparkling wine to keep it from tasting too sweet.

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Cork County Bubbles

PHOTO © TINA RUPP
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Mixologist John Coltharp likes making this Champagne cocktail with herbal, woody Jameson 12-year Irish whiskey (made in Ireland’s County Cork).

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Citrus 75

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Kathy Casey likes making her own Limoncello, the sweet Italian lemon liqueur, for this drink. Pallini Limoncello, which is widely available, also works well here.

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French 75

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Many believe this drink was devised by American soldiers in World War I hankering for a Tom Collins. They had gin and lemons but no soda, so they used what was at hand: Champagne. The result was named for the French-made 75-millimeter guns used in the war.

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Platinum Sparkle

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For parties, Kathy Casey premixes the first four ingredients in large batches (3 parts vodka to 1 part each liqueur, Lillet and lemon juice). When she’s ready to pour, she fills a shaker with ice and 3 ounces of the mixture, shakes, strains into a glass and tops with Champagne.

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Champagne Holiday Punch

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Erick Castro, former bar manager at San Francisco’s Rickhouse, created this sparkling punch. It’s terrifically light, but the malted grain–based genever adds whiskey-like depth.

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Champagne Cocktail

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According to master mixologist Dale DeGroff, this is one of the few original cocktails that appeared in the first (1862) version of the seminal How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas. The recipe has remained unchanged for 150 years.

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Champagne Mojitos

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This puckery drink is prepared with rum and fresh mint like a classic mojito, but New Orleans chef John Besh makes it holiday-worthy by topping it with a splash of Champagne.

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Sparkling Pomegranate Punch

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In addition to wine, Maria Helm Sinskey serves her guests refreshing punches like this one, made with tart-sweet pomegranate juice and finished with Prosecco.

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Red Velvet

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This riff on the Black Velvet replaces the Champagne with Prosecco and the Guinness with raspberry-flavored lambic, a type of wheat beer made with wild yeasts.

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Marasca Fizz

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For this Champagne cocktail, pitted sweet cherries are soaked in an anise-infused syrup.

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Lady Irish

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Sean Muldoon likes drinking this tart, sherry-spiked Champagne cocktail with shellfish, especially shrimp, lobster or crab.

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Mexico 70

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Ryan Fitzgerald, who admits to a chronic case of World Cup fever, named this sparkling tequila-lime drink to honor the 1970 World Cup, which was played in Mexico. (Brazil won, led by Pelé.) It’s a terrific brunch cocktail.

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